


We Are

by Psilent (HereThereBeFic)



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Movie Spoilers, Spoilers, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 20:07:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2123052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HereThereBeFic/pseuds/Psilent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I hope you don't mind that I come here. I... appreciate your company. And the quiet.”</p><p>(For a prompt on the Guardians of the Galaxy livejournal kink meme: Five (or four) times Groot comforted one of the Guardians and one time they comforted him.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: References to past (canonical) torture and experimentation.

Rocket talks in his sleep.

Most nights it's inconsequential nonsense, client names, _twenty units? that's just insulting_ and rambling explanations of far-fetched plans to get out of whatever scenario he's dreamed them into.

Some nights it's not.

They've just narrowly escaped arrest – narrowly enough that the authorities were able to rattle off more than a few instances of “subject 89P13, drop your weapons!”

They're docked, now, and not exactly safe, but they never exactly are, and it's been long enough since either of them slept that they'll be in more danger if they keep flying.

No beds on this ship. It was meant for quick jaunts across its planet of origin. They'll need a new one soon; there's only so much Rocket can do to keep it from falling apart in atmospheric conditions it wasn't meant to withstand.

There isn't even a cargo hold. They settle into the cockpit as comfortably as they can – Groot stretches his roots across the floor and down the corridor towards the airlock, and Rocket curls up in the pilot's seat.

Rocket has been awake for three – not days, exactly, but three instances of the portion of time where he would normally be asleep. He drops off almost immediately.

Groot isn't faring much better. There has been little sunlight and even less water lately, and he is almost asleep when Rocket starts talking. He hardly notices it at first. Rocket's sleep talk has become a familiar background noise, almost a comforting presence.

“Bunch'a bastards, all of you...”

 _Subject 89P13_ , Groot remembers, and remembers other nights, and listens more carefully.

“Why bother givin' me a voice if you didn't want... put it down, PUT IT DOWN! no no no _no no no_ -”

Groot snaps awake. Rocket is curled in a tight ball, arms over his face, shivering and repeating over and over again – _no no no no no put it down please I was kidding can't you take a joke it's your fault I make them PLEASE NO_ –

“I am Groot.” _I am **here**._

Rocket freezes.

Groot reaches forward, pauses. Asks permission. “I am Groot?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Rocket grumbles.

Satisfied, Groot carefully pulls Rocket to his chest, settling back against the wall. “I am _Groot_.”

“...Yeah.” Rocket lets out a shaky breath. He does not want to talk about this. Groot will not make him. “Thanks, buddy.”


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: References to (canonical) past torture, experimentation, murder.
> 
> Note: This makes reference to something that happens to Gamora and Nebula in their prequel comic, but it should still make sense without having read that.

Gamora visits him often.

He is growing fast under the heat lamps Rocket rigged up for him, but he is still confined to a pot, letting his roots strengthen as they soak in the soil's nutrients. The others do their best to make sure he is not left alone too long or too often. Rocket is with him the most, and then there is Gamora.

Something is bothering her. She says once, “I hope you don't mind that I come here. I... appreciate your company. And the quiet.”

Groot smiles at her. She smiles back. “Good.”

Another time, she kicks the wall and sinks to the floor and says “They _do_ not understand!”

Groot waits silently, wishing he could reach out, offer comfort.

She looks up at him. “You do not understand, either. But you will not interrupt me.”

He nods, encouraging. She looks away, breathes, looks back.

“I was not – I betrayed Ronan, and Thanos. _Betrayed_. It was – an instance. A decision. I was not working against Thanos from the start. I have... People are dead. They died at my hands and I cannot erase that. Nothing I do will give them back their lives, return them to their families.”

She leans her head back against the wall and is silent, for a long moment. Groot thinks of the Kyln guard's scream as he fell from the watchtower, thinks of punching effortlessly through soft bodies. “Grooo,” he says quietly, to her ears, and wishes she could hear his _real_ voice, which is saying: _We are not innocent_.

She shakes her head. Her breathing is growing ragged but her voice is firm. “Nebula is my fault.”

She stares straight at him, like she is challenging herself. He holds very still. “Thanos trained us together. Against each other. I... tricked her. She was nearly killed. Instead, he _fixed_ her.” She brings her arms up around her knees. “So many times, we left each other to die. And we never did.” She reaches up, trails two fingers down the metal that shows through in her face. Bitterly, humorlessly, she laughs. “I guess I'm her fault, too.”

“Grooo _oooo_.”

Gamora's expression hardens. She looks away at last. “No wonder she would not take my hand.”

“Groooo?”

She shakes her head. Looks back at him. “The others do not want to hear this. I don't suppose you do, either. If you weren't stuck, would you have left me here by now? Do I bore you? Do I _frighten_ you?”

Uselessly, Groot reaches for her.

She moves closer. Groot wraps a tendril over her shoulder, and she smiles faintly. “I promise not to cut your arms off again.”

“Grooooo.”

“I will pretend that was a thank-you.”

Close enough.


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: References to (canonical) child death.

Drax has not let the child out of his sight.

They are searching for ver parents, but there is not much hope of finding them.

It's nothing dramatic – rather, they were on their way to pick up some ship components, and found a crying child in a crowded city center, and Drax was lost to them.

Groot waved the others on and stayed behind to help.

The child's name is Laryn and ve seems to be very, very young – far too young to be alone in a crowd, barely old enough to be chaperoned in one.

Drax calmed ver down remarkably quickly, and then, with permission very solemnly asked and just as solemnly given, hoisted ver up on his shoulders to better scan the crowd.

Groot would like to make the child a bracelet or crown or necklace of flowers, but he is still not back to his full strength. He manages one flower, which Drax carefully tucks behind Laryn's ear.

Laryn is utterly delighted by ver new friends, tears long dried and replaced with endless giggling.

“There!” ve shouts, pointing, and it is impossible to see who ve is pointing _at_ , but Drax takes off in the general direction, Groot right behind him.

They nearly collide with Laryn's parents, who have evidently spotted them as well and are charging towards them, crying their child's name.

There are thank-yous and hugs (for Drax) and uncertain pats on the arm (for Groot) and the little family goes on its way.

The change in Drax is immediate.

The smile drops from his face. He stumbles to a bench and collapses, head in his hands.

Groot is still small enough to sit beside him. “I am Groot.”

“It has been some time,” Drax says, voice thick, “since I was last able to be a father.”

Groot nods, and twines an arm around him, and lets him weep.


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: References to past (canonical) parental death.

Peter is dancing in the hold.

Something has been – _wrong_ , all day, but no one has been able to tell quite what it is, and when Peter gives control of the ship over to Rocket and disappears, an uneasy silence falls over everyone.

When Peter does not return, Groot goes searching.

Close enough to the hold doors, he can feel the tiny vibrations of Peter's footfalls, under those of the ship itself.

After a moment of consideration, he knocks.

Peter stops moving. “Who is it?”

“I am Groot.”

Muffled laughter. “Yeah, sure, come on in.”

He does.

Peter has resumed his dancing, swaying in slow circles around the limited space. Groot takes care not to disturb any of the crates – were he back to his full size, he could never even fit in here. “I am Groot?”

Peter holds up one hand. “Shh, song's almost over.”

Groot waits.

The song ends, and another begins. Peter removes his headphones. “So, uh. Hi.”

“I am Groot.”

Peter leans back against the empty cargo boxes. “It's – it's hard, you know, uh. Keeping track of, like. Time. And stuff. Out here.” He looks away. “But, uh, I try. It's... back on Terra, right now, it's my mom's birthday.”

Music is still spilling out of the headphones, quiet and upbeat. Peter forces a laugh. “Or, you know, it's probably not. I'm probably months off by now. But – in my head, it's her birthday.”

“I am Groot.”

Peter sighs, and sits down on the crates. “Sorry, man, I still don't... I'm not really in the mood for guessing games, you know?”

Groot tilts his head. Peter tilts his the other way. “We used to listen to music together. To – to the first tape. I'd go to the hospital after school and we'd – we'd try to fit the headphones around both of us.” He laughs again, and wipes his eyes. “Didn't really work, but, we. You know. We could still hear it.”

“I am _Groot_.”

“Man, I _just_ -”

Groot crosses the miniscule space between them and settles beside Peter on the empty crates. “I _am Groot_.”

“...Okay. Yeah.”

Peter cranks up the volume, and sets the headphones between them, and they listen to both sides of the tape, all the way through.


	5. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Fire.

Everything is burning.

The plan was going perfectly, everything was _fine_ – and then a security system exploded instead of quietly yielding to the inevitable, and the fire spread and spread and _spread_ and all Groot can see is flames. They tower over him and _reach_ for him and draw the water out of his body and he presses back, back, back against the metal wall that he cannot break.

He is going to die.

He can regrow from anything, but this fire will not _leave_ anything, there is nothing to protect even his roots.

He thinks he hears Rocket's voice, but the roar of the flames is so loud, so overwhelming, he might have imagined it, Rocket might already be –

they _all_ might already be –

and then –

Water.

Not anything so laughably useless as an overhead sprinkler system, no, a pipe has burst – a pipe has been _cut_ – and it doesn't kill the flames but it beats them back, back far enough for Groot to _run_.

He sees Rocket, can't think, picks him up and keeps moving while Rocket tries to talk to him, _thank **fuck** , everyone else is outside, we couldn't **find** you -_

Outside. Yes. That's where he needs to be.

He runs until Drax's hand thumps against his chest, until his voice and the others' greet him with warmth and relief but he can't focus on the words, can't hear anything but the crackling of the flames, the thunderous inferno drowning out the world.

They watch the building burn.

“Well,” Peter says, clearing his throat. “We were gonna blow it up anyway.”

Groot cannot stop _shaking_.

He realizes he has not put Rocket down. He moves to do so, but Rocket climbs up his arm and sits perched on his shoulder, patting the back of his head. “Easy, big guy.” His voice is soft, low, nothing of the hissing flames. Groot clings to it. “You're safe. Little singed, maybe.”

An arm around his back – Drax is standing beside him. “It is good to fear something,” he says quietly. “It makes us more careful.”

“We would not have left you to perish,” Gamora says, taking one of his hands in both of hers.

Peter sits down in the grass, settles against his leg, and starts to hum.

The fire burns itself out.

The warmth in Groot's chest does not.


End file.
